Not one but two

This was my sandwich weekend of Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and Bruch with a Bach filling.  The Bach filling was very wholesome given the capable, professional performers.  Lovely.  But Maruki's open and unauditioned thus somewhat aurally unbalanced presentation of Tchaiks, Mendelssohn and Bruch was hugely satisfying for players and I trust for the audience.  It was in Albert Hall as our concerts are.  The works were complete and  very much demanding works of that era.  No slouch is this group: we take on the real thing and present hefty concerts.  The Bruch was his Suite Modale for flute and strings, led by flautist James Gibson.  The other two were symphonies, Tchaikovsky symphony no.5 Emin (locally famous as once an ad for a brand of cigarettes) and Mendelssohn symphony no.1  Cmin(written by a 15-year old, no less).  Two symphonies?  As I said, Maruki does not shirk.  We were led by Kristen Simpson in the absence of our formation musical director, John Gould.  A fabulous, long, demanding, difficult concert that we played better than ever in practice.  That's the nature of a gig.  "She'll be right on the night" is a well tested assertion and proved by the level of concentration that comes with an audience.  So this was great training and awareness and a great outing.  And thanks to visitors who often join us at short notice including Olivia Herbert (violin), fairly recently of the Australian Youth Orchestra and a tour to Germany, who came from Brisbane to play with relative Bev Simpson (cello).  See the pic: Olivia with a representative of another generation of youth orchestrists, Anne Stevens of the Canberra Youth Orchestra and much music thereafter.  Great fun and a satisfying achievement.

Maruki Community Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and Bruch at Albert Hall.  Kristen Simpson (conductor) led the orchestra including Paul Hibbard (violin, concertmaster), Olivia Lambert (violin), Anne Stevens (viola) and James Gibson (flute).

Red shirting

Never let it be said that Maruki shirks. I've said it before and this latest concert is just further proof: Dvorak Slavonic dances 1,2,8; Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue; Tchaikovsky Symphony no.4 Fmin op.36. Anne Stevens soloed for the Gershwin then took up her normal position in the violas. The turnout was good with visitors from NCO and elsewhere and the audience was solid, partly there for Gershwin. It's a popular piece, and as I recognised while Anne worked through the syncopations and diverse key signatures, not easy. It wasn't too bad for the orchestra (although I was pleased to get the offbeat triplet scalar runs towards the end: they were a doozy). The big challenge was kept for the Tchaikovsky, especially the first movement. At first blush, the fourth movement looked scary with its quick semi-quaver scalar sequences, but the varied syncopations of the first movement were killers. The time was 9/8 feel at a reasonable speed so that was not the issue but the dotted feels were. As for the bowing, that can await my next take on this very big challenge. The Dvorak was more presentable, as Dvorak seems to be. I never seem to find him an insurmountable challenge. But as always, when John puts on his threatened red shirt, we do our bit. Not perfect but decent and performance is the best way to get to grow accustomed to any piece of music. Again, a big program and a decent take on it.

Maruki Orchestra performed Dvorak, Gershwin and Tchaikovsky at Albert Hall under John Gould (conductor) with soloist Anne Stevens (piano) and Paul Hubbard (concertmaster).